


Lux

by ExpressAndAdmirable



Series: The Heroes of Light [68]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Dungeons & Dragons - All Media Types, Final Fantasy I
Genre: Ancient History, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Tiefling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 18:35:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15055259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpressAndAdmirable/pseuds/ExpressAndAdmirable
Summary: A thousand years, a thousand cycles. How Flame came to understand the world it helped create. (Featuring art!)





	Lux

**Author's Note:**

> Included is an absolutely phenomenal piece of Lux art, drawn by @aguydrawsgames on Tumblr.

Before everything, it was Flame. The heat of the oven and the wrath of the forest fire, the belly of the volcano and the roar of the forge, the light of inspiration and the inferno of destruction. It worked in concert with its fellows and created a world. It was imperfect, as worlds often are; its people fought over petty things and understood little beyond themselves. But it was good, and with Light, Shadow, Air, Water, and Earth, Flame protected the world they had created in their harmony. From its crystal Altar, an anchor and seat of power buried deep within the heat of the earth, Flame guarded and it watched.

Then the Demon came: Chronodia, power-hungry and cruel, seeking to reign over all she had not created. She brought chaos to the world, fear and pain, spreading darkness and ruin wherever her forces attacked. The great dragon Tiamat chose to stand at her side, laying low their enemy Bahamut and unleashing a wave of devastation that threatened to consume the world in a frenzy of glorious madness. The nations toppled, their people turning on one another or scattering in terror. Chronodia was, it seemed, unstoppable.

The Elements, however, had built a failsafe into their world: mortal creatures imbued with Elemental essences, agents through which they could take form and defend their creation. They were the Sky Warriors of the nation of Lefein, crew of the Highwind, their bonds strong and their hearts true. Through them, the Elements could exert their will on the interloper and her allies and banish them from their home. When the time came, the Elements released themselves from their Altars in the guise of tiny crystals. They sought out the Sky Warriors and united with them, strengthening their bodies and harmonising with their spirits, preparing to fight for their very existence.

But when they joined, when Flame entered the consciousness of Gastlin of the Sky Warriors and became a Hero of Light, it discovered something it had not anticipated: Gastlin was in love. He had loved Thonis long before Light had taken its place within her, loved her unabashedly and completely for everything she was. He fought for the world, yes, but he fought for the world so they could live in it, together. Gastlin wanted to be a father, and when he died at Tiamat’s hand, Flame mourned all that would not be. It saw many sparks extinguish with Gastlin’s, flickers of possibility disappearing into darkness, and it understood keenly the pain of loss.

At the moment of her defeat, Chronodia revealed her own wicked plan: she pulled the Elements into herself, dousing the light of the Altars that fuelled them and using their remaining power to send herself backward in time, all to begin her invasion anew. The Elements, weakened and desperate, reached out into the world to find the mortals who carried their essence. Those who had once been the Sky Warriors were gone, they learned, but there were others who would rise in their place. Six new mortals stepped forward to accept the Elements, sharing the memories of those who had come before and bearing the mantle of Hero of Light.

Flame’s second form was High Elven, a warrior of great renown, loyal to king and country, but her hatred for her erstwhile cousins was a fire that could not be contained. She fought fiercely, killed without hesitation, and swore her revenge upon the Demon who slew her even as she took her last breath. Its third form was gentle, a Halfling who would rather fill their companions’ bellies with fine pies and pastries than shed an enemy’s blood. The horrors of battle hardened them, made their hearth cold, and they died in broken silence.

Again, the Heroes of Light reignited the Altars and faced Chronodia, and again, she usurped their power to escape and restart the cycle. This time, however, Flame felt itself drawn to the most unlikely of places: a demon of Chronodia’s retinue. Known in later legends as the Demon of Light, her heart yearned for the half-demon offspring she had mothered with her mortal lovers. So deep was her love for her children that she turned on Chronodia, though she knew she would not survive her master’s wrath. She stood against her, defiant even in death, and Flame learned that love could burn as strongly as hate and ten times as bright.

Through the cycles, Flame took many forms, from Elves to Dwarves to little Gnomes; yet again and again, it found itself drawn to the children of the Demon of Light. It felt a kinship with the Tieflings, gifting their bloodlines with so much of itself that any one of them could become a Hero of Light. Their mother’s love lived on in Flame’s memory, and with each passing cycle, it grew to understand the sacrifice she had made -- that they had both made. Though the world scorned the Tieflings, Flame loved them all.

Then something happened that surprised Flame beyond measure: Earth, living the next cycle in the form of a sturdy Human with sparkling eyes and a ruddy beard, began to catch its attention. Its mortal heart thudded strangely in its chest, a long-forgotten ache snaking through its body and coiling in its stomach, warming even as it confused. Hazy memories surfaced: Gastlin, stealing secret smiling glances across the deck at his captain and his love. With a start, Flame realised it wished to take Earth in its arms the way Gastlin had held Thonis, the way the Demon of Light had held so many lovers. It realised it had always wished for this. Troubled, Flame said nothing, and its tall, horned form died with regret in its heart.

With the next cycle came the Calling. Flame could feel it in the back of its mortal mind, seductive and dark, enticing it to return to its master’s side and serve her will. It knew it was not alone, that every Tiefling felt it, but the knowledge did nothing to lessen the fear. One night, as their companions slept, Flame told Earth of the Calling, its voice a frightened whisper. Earth, its form that of a hulking Orc, took Flame’s hand in hers and promised that so long as she lived, Flame would not falter. They died together, hand in hand, and Flame’s heart soared even as its body crumbled. Earth had kept its word, and Flame had not faltered.

Slowly, over many cycles, Flame and Earth came to accept that in each life they lived, each form they chose, they would always find their way to the other’s side. In the forms of Tiefling and Half-Elf, they shared their first fleeting kiss, a moment of wild abandon as death overcame them. As a pair of Dragonborn, they curled around one another in their sleep, and neither had ever found their rest more peaceful. As a Tiefling and a Wood Elf, they learned of one another, a tangle of limbs and sweat and breath. As a Gnome and a Halfling, they gave words to their love, and as a Tiefling and a Drow, they swore it would be forever.

Each mortal who carried the essence of Earth or Flame felt the desire, the longing in the deepest part of their hearts, though they could not understand why. The moment the Elements merged with their mortal forms and became Heroes of Light, they ran to one another, embracing in dizzy elation as the memories of one hundred, two hundred, three hundred lifetimes flooded them. They had formed a love that spanned countless cycles, that defied death and time and distance. A love that would last forever -- but only if they could best the Demon.

The cycles stretched on and on. The Elements melded with their mortal avatars, regained their memories, reignited the Altars, faced Chronodia, and lost, only to begin again with the next cycle. As they looked upon their darkening world, searching for any advantage over the Demon, they were struck by the mortals who lived in its cities and villages. While the Elements had created the world, they did not inhabit it, and so they did not understand it, nor did they understand the mortals who lived and died upon it. They realised they could not continue to do as they had done, grafting themselves onto mortal forms, using them until they could fight no longer. They needed to _become_ mortal, to exist within the world rather than outside it. They must experience mortal life, fully and truly, before they could hope to see the Demon defeated.

Flame reached out into the world, following the bloodlines of its beloved Tieflings, until it found what it sought: a young woman, shy but in the presence of her husband, poor in wealth yet rich in joy. It looked deep into her heart and saw her greatest wish, and it knew this was where it would become mortal. It realised it would have no further choice, and it was at peace. It would not know its past, would have no influence over the events that shaped it as it grew. It would not know Earth, though it trusted they would find each other. It would not recognise the crystal it was to carry, nor would it know what it was to be a Hero. It knew only that it would be Tiefling, hated and feared by those around it, but loved both by the mother who bore it and the mother who bore all.

The rest would be up to the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song by the Surrealist.
> 
> Follow me on Tumblr at @expressandadmirable for a proper table of contents for the Heroes campaign, commissioned character art, text-based roleplay snippets and more!


End file.
